Summer of Like // Farleigh Start x OC

16: My Wrists are Only Black and Blue 'Cause I Don't Have the Balls

Moonlight streaming in from the windows makes the puddles I leave behind me look like broken glass. The walk from the bathroom Venetia and I share is short, so I don't bother putting on any clothes to get back to my room, just wrapping myself in my towel until I'm behind the safety of my door. Back into my room, closing the door as I go, and then drop my towel.

"Wow. Hello to you too."

A spike of adrenaline shoots through me, and I whip around, grabbing the nearest hard object to me (a very ornate paperweight that sits on the desk by the door), and preparing to throw.

Perched on my bed, Farleigh raises his hands, placating. "Don't throw that at me."

I only half relax, setting the paperweight back down on the desk. "You can't just surprise me like that." I hiss. "I'm naked!"

Farleigh mimics my angry face back at me. "Nothing I haven't seen before?"

I'm about to protest until the memory of lounging in the field resurfaces in my mind. He's right, technically, but that doesn't mean I'm not still a little angry. "Okay? You still scared the shit out of me-"

"Not my fault you walk into your room backwards." He says. "Aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

I purse my lips. I'm not over it, but I don't want to argue forever. "Why are you here Farleigh?" I deadpan, picking my towel up from the floor.

I watch him roll his eyes as I drape my towel over the back of the desk chair, and then move to the dresser, rifling through the mess of clothes in the drawers to find something to sleep in. "No need to be so rude." He says. "I have something to tell you."

I pull a pair of boxers loose, and slip into them. A soft bralette is next. "What kind of something?"

I plop down on top of the duvet next to him, and he crosses his legs the way he does when he's getting ready to tell a story. "I told Felix about Venetia and Oliver."

"Yeah." I say. "I figured, from the way he was pouting at breakfast."

"And so, naturally, I expected Felix to give Oliver the boot. But instead, when we're in the library after dinner, he goes on this long string about how I shouldn't lie just to keep myself entertained, and it wasn't fair to either V or Ollie to say that." Farleigh says, his voice low, even though it's just the two of us in the room. "Which means, that little shit told Felix it wasn't true, and Felix fucking believed him."

He watches me with wide eyes as the information processes in my mind. "How the hell did he swing that one?" I say. "I mean, he was literally up her skirt-"

"He must be ridiculously good at giving head if he's got Felix wrapped around his finger this bad." Farleigh says. "I mean, Felix could have asked anyone else, and checked, but, no, of course Oliver is telling the truth."

I let out a long, low whistle as I flop back against my pillows, looking up at the ceiling. This changes a lot of things - my perception of Oliver, for one. I'd never really thought all that much of him before, not that he'd really ever given me a reason to, but between the way Venetia talked about him trying to dom her into eating, and now how he's knowingly thrown Farleigh under the bus, he begins to take a more sinister shape in my mind. I don't know what his game is, but I'm beginning to think that he has one.

Farleigh makes himself comfortable, sprawling out beside me on the mattress, fluffing the pillows behind him. I can feel the heat radiating off him when he's this close, and for a minute, I want to ask him about our little nighttime happening, but I keep my tongue. He didn't come here to talk to me about that.

"Venetia told me he was trying to dom her into eating." I say.

Farleigh rolls so that he's laying on his side, facing me. The expression on his face is a mixture of shock and amusement. "What."

I shift onto my side too, placing an arm under my head. "She said he said something about how pretty she was, and how she really should eat, I mean, she didn't give me a word for word transcript of their dirty talk or anything, but she seemed pretty into it."

The fact that he lied to Felix screws Venetia over too, I realize. If he's worried more about Felix being comfortable than Venetia's feelings, there's no way he's going to make the same mistake twice. And by the look on her face when she was telling me about him, I have no doubts that she'll try to get him again.

Farleigh's nose wrinkles as he grins. "God, he's such a fucking pussy." He laughs.

"Do you think Felix will be mad at V?" I ask.

Farleigh snorts. "Without a doubt. I mean - has she told you about Eddie?"

I nod.

Farleigh shifts on the bed. "Case in point."

A frown finds its way between my lips. "If he didn't want Felix to find out, why'd he do it in the first place?" I say. "I mean, it's Felix's fucking house, he's going to find out if his friend is having sex with his sister one way or another."

"It's the closest he'll probably ever get to actually fucking Felix." Farleigh says. "I mean, you've seen how he looks at him."

I have - it's hard to miss, with how wide and blue Oliver's eyes are, and how often he has them locked on Felix.

"It's a little funny, because you look at Venetia in almost the exact same way." He continues, that wry smile coming to sit on his lips.

I roll my eyes. "I thought we were done with this."

"Done with what?" Farleigh asks. He sounds sincere enough, but the look on his face betrays him.

"You calling me V's dog." I say, shifting infinitesimally closer to him. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous, Farleigh. I mean, you bring it up often enough."

The smirk on his lips wavers. The excitement in his eyes doesn't.

"But, that's not the case, right?" I say, watching as his tongue darts out to lick his lips. "Surely you're not jealous?"

The same electricity that I felt on the roof last night returns tenfold as he opens his mouth. "No." It's laced with a taunt, almost begging me to press just a little harder. Force him to crack.

"You can tell me, if you are." I say, dropping my voice. His eyes meet mine, and I can see myself in the reflection. "We're friends, and I know how to keep a secret."

His eyes flutter shut, just for a second. "I might be a little jealous."

"And I might have been thinking about last night all day." I say, offering up my own confession and evening out the playing field.

Farleigh leans in a little closer. "Really?"

"Maybe." I say.

The conversation dies, and I glance down at his lips, and then back up to his eyes. We're pressed close enough that I can feel his breath against the tip of my nose, and our knees brush together from the way that we're laying. I watch him swallow, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat and his eyes trace down my face. It would be so easy to close the distance between us.

A gentle knock on the door of my room breaks the trance, and I sit up, turning to see Venetia poke her head in. When she sees Farleigh on the bed, she smiles.

"Sorry." She says. "I just wanted to see if you'd braid my hair, but if you're busy-"

I glance back at Farleigh, and grin, the same teasing smile that he points at me so often. "No, I'm not doing anything. Come sit."